1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates broadly to electronic equipment. More particularly, this invention relates to electronic equipment terminal blocks which provide a conductive connection between external and internal destination points.
2. State of the Art
Electronic components and circuitry are often provided in large racks housing circuit boards and back planes. The components are powered by a DC power source; i.e., a battery. The DC power is filtered by power filters and then distributed to the components and circuitry.
A terminal block serves as the mounting point for conductively connecting the DC power source to the power filters, or for other connections, e.g., connections to bus bars and/or back planes. Terminal blocks must be able to handle high current situations while inducing minimal voltage drop. Typically, a terminal block is mounted on a panel on the equipment housing. The panel is provided with a plurality of holes for mounting other components and for extending wires therethrough.
Current off-the-shelf terminal blocks are generally of two types. The first type of terminal block includes an elongate insulative block having a first array of mechanical connection points on a first side of the block. A second side of the insulative block (orthogonal to the first side) is provided with a second array of mechanical or solder type connection points which are conductively coupled to the first side connection points. The terminal block is assembled between the power source and power filter by (1) panel mounting the terminal block; (2) attaching wires from the power source to the terminal block by a mechanical means; (3) cutting a series of intermediate wires to length and stripping the ends of wire; (4) attaching first ends of each of the wires to the second array of connection points; (5) feeding the second ends through holes in the panel; (6) securing power filters to the rear of the panel; and (7) wrapping the second ends of the second wires around leads on the power filters and securing by nuts. The resulting arrangement conductively couples the power source to the power filters.
A second type of terminal block includes threaded studs molded into the insulative block and extending outward from front and back sides, thereby forming front and back stud portions. The terminal block is connected to the DC power source and the power filter by: (1) passing the back studs through holes in a panel such that the back of the terminal block is flush with the panel; (2) using mounting hardware to mount the terminal block to the panel; (3) coupling the power filters to the rear of the panel; (4) coupling a first array of wires extending from the power source to the front stud portions and securing in place with nuts; (5) stripping first and second ends of an array of intermediate wires; (6) coupling the first ends of the wires to the back stud portions and securing in place with nuts; (7) coupling the second ends of the array of intermediate wires to the power filter with nuts.
In each prior art design, a series of intermediate wires are required to couple the terminal block to the power filters. This has several disadvantages. First, intermediate wires increase voltage drops. In addition, with increasing wire length of the intermediate wires, the power source to power filter connection will be subject to increased EMI. It is difficult to decrease the length of the intermediate wires, as the intermediate wires must be easily manipulable by an on-site technician and must be long enough to route between the power source and the power filter (typically at least four inches). Additional voltage drop is caused by the increased number of connections required when using intermediate wires. Furthermore, assembling the prior art designs requires a time consuming procedure necessitating a large number of manual connections.